When Broadcom Inc. acquired VMware LLC, it set off more than just a headline-making transaction — it sparked a sweeping reorganization to simplify technologies, products and strategies across the company. The VMware acquisition is also reshaping the partner ecosystem, with focused innovation now steering the path forward.

In a conversation with theCUBE, Dante Orsini (pictured, left), chief revenue officer of 11:11 Systems Inc., and Ahmar Mohammad (right), vice president of partners and managed services and solutions at Broadcom, broke down what this shift means for partners. The big question: How does streamlining translate into better outcomes, stronger bottom lines and more effective go-to-market strategies?

11:11 Systems’ Dante Orsini and Broadcom’s Ahmar Mohammad talk with theCUBE about VMware’s partner strategy.

“We are now further simplifying or further rationalizing our CSP ecosystem as well and consolidating it down to a selected group of fully committed customer-aligned partners who do this for a living,” Mohammad said. “This is not a side show for them. This is not 5% … or 10% of their business. This is the cake. We want to make sure that we can work with them closely, provide the enablement and coverage and then they can go out and serve our customers fully.”

Mohammad and Orsini spoke with theCUBE’s John Furrier and Rebecca Knight at VMware Explore, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how the VMware acquisition and the evolution of VMware Cloud Foundation are creating new opportunities for partners and customers. (* Disclosure below.)

Key developments since the VMware acquisition

Broadcom has followed through on promises to simplify and reinvest in VMware’s platform. With nearly 20% of revenue being reinvested into research and development, the innovation pipeline is accelerating, according to Orsini.

“They’ve greatly simplified the routes to market, and they’ve greatly simplified the platform — but most importantly, it’s the investment,” he said. “I don’t think people realize, it’s like 19% of the revenue is being reinvested in R&D. For the first time, we’ve seen an entire team focus on a single stack and what that’s doing to drive innovation for folks like us on the cloud side, as well as the end user is huge.”

VMware’s restructured partner program is designed to highlight managed services and differentiation. Partners must offer full-stack VCF as a service — not just licensing, but integrated infrastructure, security, compliance and application management, Mohammad added.

“They provide higher value-added services and generate multiples on top of just the licensing cost,” he said. “They’re not selling sugar; they’re selling the cake and using the sugar as an ingredient to sell the full finished product.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of VMware Explore:

(* Disclosure: Broadcom Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Broadcom nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE